The One Where I Meet OnePushyFox and Two Authors

Alternate Title of This Post: Hi Heather, I'm Heather (sounds like I'm talking crazily to myself doesn't it?)

Those of you that know me in real life, even on Twitter, know that I rarely seem excited. I’m one of those people that always keeps cool as a cucumber and laid back even under extreme stress. When Heather (OnePushyFox) tweeted me to let me know that the authors of Beautiful Creatures, Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia, would be in the area for a book signing, I didn’t hesitate to accept her invitation. Celebrities and authors don’t faze me after working at an outdoor concert venue in the south suburbs for four years as the assistant box office manager while I was in college. After dealing with the jerks that are their management team and walking through a crowd of 20,000 people with 100 grand in cash stuffed in my pants, I don’t think of them as anything than ordinary people with an extraordinary job. But even I did get a little nervous right before I met Heather, Margaret, and Kami.

I left work an hour early, hopped a different train (almost freak free except for the youngin’ that decided he needed to sit one seat away, even though the entire top of the train was empty) and headed for home. I got to eat a rushed dinner with my son, husband, mom, and nephews before I left my house 10 minutes late.

I was worried I wasn’t going to get there by 6 o’clock, the time that we agreed to get to Anderson’s Bookshop in Downers Grove. I didn’t quite drive like I was in Days of Thunder, but the speed limit on Chicagoland interstates is 55 mph and you get ran over if you actually drive 55 (And yes that was a nod to my husband who got pulled over for speeding after watching that movie as a teenager). I was only 10 minutes away when Heather called to say she had arrived. I’m so glad I didn’t make her wait long, my real life peeps know that I haven’t been on time for anything since I had baby C last March (Holy crap, he’s going to be one next month! Time flies. Too bad the baby weight didn’t fly off, lol).

I was really excited to meet Heather, we live about 45 minutes from each other so it wasn’t that big of a deal to meet up. I recognized her instantly from the picture on The Lemon Sister’s blog post where Heather and Kristen (uhyesplease) met in person (It helped that hardly anyone was there that early). All it took was a smile and a hug for us to feel like old friends (and I’m always uncomfortable around new people). I bought my untainted book to be signed and sat down to get to know one another better while we waited for the authors to arrive. Since this week was my time to host the discussion of the Beautiful Creatures chapters I was assigned over at Fragile’s blog, my original copy is full of large post-it notes and the Edward Cullen book mark that HoudinisBox sent me in The Lemon Sister’s Secret Santa swap. That would be an awesome scenario: Hey sign my book that’s full of crap and a book mark for a series by a hugely successful young adult author. BTW, isn’t he hot?) I didn’t lug that battered copy to the store and just bought a crisp, new copy that also bought me a numbered place in line to get it signed.

After chatting and battering Heather with my verbal vomit for over a half hour, the authors arrived. By this time the small area in the shop where the discussion would take place was very full, I was thankful that she wanted to meet an hour early and we had claimed seats. Kami and Margi just jumped right in, with Kami reading some of chapter 1 from the book. After the reading, they asked each other their own set of FAQs. Kami is very much the straight laced one and attempts to keep Margi reined in, but Margi is very energetic and has a very quirky, big personality. You can really tell that these two women are good friends, and that shows in the way they interact with each other. The whole ordeal it just seemed like a discussion amongst good friends.

When the authors finished with questions from the audience, it was time to get our books signed. Heather and I were chatting so much that neither one of us heard our numbers being called. Heather went first and told them her bloggy/twitter name, Margi recognized her right away. After hugging, Margi asked “Where’s your friend?” meaning me. She even knew my Twitter name! It is really sweet that they interact with us on Twitter, even remembering who says they are going to show up to what signing. I was thrilled to be remembered! The authors genuinely appreciate their fans and give us the same support right back. They retweet every week about our Beautiful Creatures discussion.

Heather had 3 copies of the book to get signed and a print out of the week she and Kristen recapped their chapters of the book on Fragile’s blog. Both Kami and Margi said they loved the blog and they keep a copy of every post. Heather really did a good job making a screen capture look great on photo paper with Fragile’s dark colored blog layout. The four of us took a picture together that should be appearing on the Beautiful Creatures website under the blog section. Look for it soon! (Who am I kidding, you know Heather and I will post the crap out of that shiz). I got my book signed and it was time to leave.

Left to Right: Margaret Stohl, Me, Kami Garcia

As soon as we hit the front door, we couldn’t believe it had snowed while we were inside. That’s lovely lake effect snow for you. And by the way, downtown Downers Grove does not get plowed in a timely fashion. I about did a donut turning the corner and I drive an all-wheel drive Explorer, WTF? (And yeah, I know, bad for the environment, blah blah blah. You try being 5’11’’ and getting in and out of a car that’s practically scraping the ground)

In summary since I not only have verbal diarrhea in person, I have it in written form as well, the authors are kick ass cool women. Make sure you check out their blogs and buy all of their books. Heather is super sweet and didn’t seem all fan girl in my opinion, she was cool just like me! Thanks to her husband for remembering that this blog chick lives close by! And come June, I’m going to try and drag her to the Printer’s Row Book Fair in the loop if there are any authors we want to hear talk. (*cough*you really need to read all four of Jen Lancaster’s autobiographies, I can lend them to you. She’s hilarious in person and is at the fair every year since she lives in Chicago!*cough*)

The worst thing to happen, for some people...

Once upon a time there was a girl, happy and free with no responsibilities except for work and home. She could laugh and play with her two precious kitties and fulfill her nosiness and need to keep busy in technological ways whenever she wanted. Then a precious little boy came into the world, and everything changed. For the better, of course. When she was on leave enjoying her three months off with the precious one, she joined Facebook to talk to old friends and be nosy about who her husband was talking to (Hey, I told you I'm nosy…it’s genetic). But then some activities that were taken for granted have fallen to the wayside. Activities like reading a book at home at night, surfing the internet, checking her email, going to movies without feeling guilty for leaving the little one at home for a few hours with grandma. (Even though the elephant house theater is where she would have to suffer through the movie) You get the point. Then everything changed when she joined Twitter and had to go back to work.

I used to be really good at keeping on top of my email. I would only have about 40 or so waiting in my inbox maximum. Want to take a guess what my email backlog is at now? It's at 1152. You would think having a crackberry would help me keep on top of the bulk, right? Thanks to Ubertwitter I'm constantly emailing myself tweets that have internet links that I want to check out. Now my inbox just keeps expanding and expanding.

When Twitter went down last month, I didn't panic. I'm sure some people were curled up in the fetal position rocking back and forth. I actually used the extra time to my advantage and worked without interruptions. Well, except for the email interruption from FireCrotch about the Twitter outage. It was actually pretty nice to not check my crackberry for several hours. The outage even allowed me to finish Stephenie Meyer's book The Host, which had been kicking my ass for two weeks. I swear that book didn't get "can't stop reading it" until 450 pages in. Boo.

When FireCrotch emailed me, I had to look twice at the name. She has the same first name as I do as well as my best friend. Let’s just say we need a Veronica and our little group is all set. And maybe Christian Slater, the young version, not bloated old version. My BFF never emails me during the day since her federal job is even stricter than mine is about email, so I had to read the email before I knew who it is. It was really great and unexpected hearing from her during the day.

While Twitter has been very entertaining for me, getting sick and a long holiday weekend has left me ignoring tweets. I’ve found that I just don’t have the patience to keep up with hours of tweets, take care of baby C, and do all the other stuff I need to do. So reading tweets and posting on this blog has been the first things dropped to compensate. Plus work has demanded all of my attention these past few weeks. I have missed talking to all of my twitter and twibloggy friends.

On another note, I’ve been reading Fragile Little Human’s Twilight/Moonlight crossover fanfic Breathe Me. The story is awesome! Mrs Robward, your fic is next on my list. I hope to read that this week. I’ve been reading the Night Huntress Novels by Jeaniene Frost. These books feature a half human-half vampire named Cat who fights other vampires with her vampire husband Bones. I’ve really enjoyed these books and I am starting book 3 of 4 today. The stories are gripping and there is also much lemony goodness in each book. You should check these out. I’m also planning a blog about the freaks on my train line, complete with pics. Hopefully I can post that later this week.

Twilight related funnies

Since my return to work, I still can't seem to ween myself from the internet and my crackberry. Luckily, my cubicle is close enough to one of the wireless routers at work so I can go on the internet. Unluckily, I look at so many different sites that make me laugh really loud that my labmates come running to see what's up. They all have the same sick sense of humor that I do, so they usually laugh along. However, I'm still hiding my love for the Twilight Saga from them so I'm not the subject of ridicule.

Thank God for my twitter application on my Blackberry Curve, Uber Twitter. I love twitter because it allows me to be all up in other peoples business without them knowing it. Definitely satisfies my noseyness! It's because of some of the awesome people I follow on Twitter that I've come across these gems.

First up, Twilight Stick Man Theatre. Here's a partial panel. These ladies sum up Twilight and New Moon using stick figures. They sum up those two books pretty nicely!

Next, a series of comics that sum up all four movies and her own personal experience of the books being pushed on her. Her four panel summaries of the movies are frickin' hilarious. She really gets to the point! You should check out all of her comics, she has a great sense of humor and they're really funny.



SimplyDelightfulx has a ton of Twilight Saga art and she has a unique spin on everything. The drawings are awesome and who knew Edward loves Oprah and Emmett loves Jerry Springer?

Finally, You Tube has quite a few videos of comics. I find Edward Doesn't Like Rap pretty funny. I personally prefer Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" to the real song. Why is it that most of the Twilight comics are in anime? Weird.

More WTF Pics

Just got back from seeing "The Hangover"...very funny movie. I never thought 12 weeks could fly by so fast, but it did. I went back to work on Monday and surprise, surprise, it's still pretty shitty. Getting up at 5 am sucks when you're not used to it and still have to get up with an 11 week old at night. Since I haven't had much time for the internet this week, here's a new site for photos that make you go WTF, Picture is Unrelated. I have to thank my twitter addiction for stumbling upon this site. Here are a few of my favorites:


Rawr! I wonder if the above guy is related to Mommy the Pooh? Nice Spy Kids poster, I bet we see this guy on "To Catch A Predator."

Um, I guess you don't need a coat with this? How the hell do you get this on and off? I'm surprised I haven't seen anything like this in the 6 years I've been riding the train into the Loop. Oh wait, there was some douchebag that thought Guitar Hero pajama pants, a tie dyed t-shirt, and a bandana is acceptable work attire. Too bad I didn't get a pic of him, I was very pregnant and irritated since the jackass wouldn't quit yacking on his phone the whole way home. Still hate that guy.


I don't even know what to say about this, it's just funny.

OMG, I found another picture that is just like Mommy the Pooh!!!! Honestly, who thinks this is a good idea? More awkward family photos at guidespot.com.

Plus, here's some Douchebag Sunburns:

Also, the Art of the Photobomb:

(Sorry for the slightly negative tone of this post, I guess that's what going back to work does to me.)